Online sales and e-commerce in South Korea

If you have a software product, a service that can be delivered from abroad or a physical product that people don’t mind waiting for, you can do business internationally directly from your own country.

This is also valid for South Korea if you keep in mind that you will have to adjust your marketing. You may have to make translations and accept different currencies, and for physical products you have to manage the whole shipping and customs process.

Where it all starts: select a target group

As counts for any country: you first have to define the target group that you want to sell to. If these are businesses, then you can reach out directly through emails and targeted advertisements, e.g. on LinkedIn. If this arouses interest and gives a sufficient response rate, then you may have found an easy way to get the market’s attention.

If your target group is more diffuse, or is a consumer group, then you have to rely more on advertising such as on Facebook or Instagram.

Do your first approach with instantly.ai

If you target people in South Korea in a specific industry or with a certain role in the company (like HR directors) you can do an easy first trial yourself.

With the tooling of our partner Instantly.ai you can define your target group, whether it’s 50 or 50.000 people. Send them a sequence of emails, directly in their inbox, for typically under 10 dollarcents per persoon.

Translate your website and check your SEO

Even if your business is really international, it may be wise to set up local website translations and check whether your text aligns with the culture.

This also counts for South Korea where people prefer reading in their own language and also search most of the time in their own language. Therefore you need to include the relevant keywords in your texts, and these may not be a direct translation.

With regards to content, my personal experience is that if you have a successful blog topic in one language, it is likely to do well also in other languages. Don’t reinvent the wheel, just make a proper translation.

Translate your Wordpress site with WPML

For targeting a country you may need website translations that go beyond Google translate. You can do this with WPML.

WPML is a Wordpress plugin that helps you set up different translations of your web pages. This can be with automated translations, but you can also choose to have manual or adjusted translations or even specific content on the language pages.

Enable local payment

Customers who see prices and can pay in their local currency are three times more likely to deal with you. So it makes sense to offer this option.

Also for South Korea offering local payment methods is recommended. Of course there are different options, but the easiest first step is to use credit or debit card payments.

Credit card payments typically work best up to an amount equivalent to 500 USD or EUR. If the invoicing amount is higher, there often is a different internal procedure required.

Use Stripe for collecting your money

With Stripe you can offer payment methods in over 45 countries, including South Korea.

Stripe combines various payment methods available in a country, even including direct bank payments and after pay. This way the barrier for your clients to do business is low.

Shipping your products

If you sell tangible products, you need to get them delivered into South Korea but depending on the country you are in, this can be a challenge.

First of all you may have to pay import duties or settle VAT. There are certain thresholds for both of these charges, e.g. while importing in the EU you don’t have to pay import duties on any shipment worth less than € 150.

There may also be non-financial bariers, like certifications or approvals to be obtained. Especially for food, cosmetics or medicine this may be the case. Check this in advance, even before you invest in your marketing.

Customs clearance for South Korea

Getting your products imported and delivered in a specific country can be a challenge. I have good experience with Tecex, who can act as your importer of record and even physical distributor. If you leave your details, they will contact you.

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Our consultants typically charge between 3.000 and 15.000 Euro on fees for market research or a partner search, depending on the complexity and country.

The e-commerce market in South Korea

The South Korean e-commerce market is experiencing rapid growth and is projected to reach significant milestones in the coming years:

Market Size and Growth

2024 Projection: $125.8 billion (KRW164.3 trillion), with a 10.2% growth rate

2028 Projection: $170.1 billion (KRW222.1 trillion), with a CAGR of 7.8% from 2024 to 2028

Key Players

1. Coupang: 24.5% market share, 147.6 million users as of November 2023

2. Naver: 23.3% market share[7]

3. Gmarket: 41.4 million users as of November 2023

4. 11 Street: 44.1 million visits in November 2023

5. SSG.com

Market Characteristics

– High-speed internet infrastructure and secure online payment options

– Growing consumer trust in online shopping

– Popular categories: food delivery, fashion, and home appliances

– Events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday boosting e-commerce growth

Trends

– Increasing adoption of alternative payment solutions

– Rise in online grocery deliveries, with services like Coupang Eats expanding

– 92% of consumers reported buying food and drinks online in the past month

This overview highlights the dynamic and rapidly expanding nature of South Korea’s e-commerce market, offering significant opportunities for businesses across various sectors.

Travel to South Korea for a better impression

The best preparation for doing business in any country is visiting it. This way you can experience the culture, check the shops and build your network.

With Trip.com you can compare flights and also book your hotel.

Hotellook compares different hotel sites so you always have the best rate.

Localrent connects you to national rental car providers per country.

Frequently asked questions

How to find an importer in South Korea for your product?

The best way to find an importer in South Korea is to understand the sales channel for your product, and what parties are involved. Then find the right importers or wholesalers at the beginning of that chain. Before starting to push your product, approach a number of them to ask what they need. This way you can position your product better before you reach out to a broader group.

How to find a web shop for your product in South Korea?

First check whether your product normally is sold through web shops in South Korea or that other distribution structures are more common. Then determine the characteristics of your ideal web shop, and find a number of these, or outsource this search. When you approach the first few, you will learn what they find important and who your competitors are.

How to convince an importer in South Korea to work with you?

As in any country, convincing an importer or wholesaler to put your product in his assortment is difficult. Also in South Korea importers look at the rotation of the product, how easy and often they can sell it, and multiply this with the margin they can make on it. The result should be higher than they earn now from any competing product. Only if you have proper sales data, for example from other countries, they will engage in a discussion with you.